"Brother Wu has a point. A poison that can fuse with the soul… no matter what, that person is finished."
"But if this poison is truly the legendary 'Soul Poison,' then it's a malicious substance on the same level as a 'Divine Sense Poison,' one of the most virulent toxins in this world."
"In that case, it seems many of us have been underestimating the cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent. We must be more cautious from now on. Getting entangled with such a poison would be a huge problem."
Another demonic cultivator, who rarely spoke, commented with a frown. The short-haired demonic cultivator nodded in agreement.
"The two of you are worrying too much. While that poison is formidable, its power is limited. It's lethal to Demonic Soldiers and Demonic Beasts, but it poses little threat to us."
"Furthermore, with our strength, we would detect such a poison long before it got close."
The middle-aged demonic cultivator surnamed Wu waved his hand dismissively. He had already sensed the poison when it wrapped around his finger. At the time, he felt it was incapable of threatening him, so he allowed it to linger on his finger to study it for a moment before casually burning it away.
Hearing the middle-aged demonic cultivator's words, the other two finally relaxed. Although they were confident in their powerful physical bodies and feared no ordinary poisons, they were still apprehensive about toxins that could harm the Divine Sense and soul.
"From the looks of it, the purpose of these cultivators entering the town was to gather intelligence and then find an opportunity to hunt our people," the short-haired demonic cultivator mused, offering a speculative answer.
A strange look appeared in the middle-aged demonic cultivator Wu's eyes. "That should have been their objective. And indeed, after they obtained some information from Jiao Hua, they planned to flee immediately."
"But when they discovered they couldn't leave, they resorted to setting up an ambush in town to cause a disturbance and escape in the chaos."
"However, there's another strange matter. Those few people actually took one of Jiao Hua's subordinates with them and also took the two Restriction Tokens from Jiao Hua's body."
"Oh? Was this subordinate of Jiao Hua a South Sea cultivator? Not one of the foreign cultivators cooperating with us?"
"A South Sea cultivator. Are you suggesting they were here on a rescue mission? That's what I thought at first, too. But after making inquiries, it became even stranger."
"Jiao Hua's entire squad came from a sect called the 'Clear Spirit Sect,' and this person was just a disciple with decent aptitude within the sect."
"They left the other five members of the 'Clear Spirit Sect' behind, yet they specifically took this one person. Since they abandoned the other five, not caring for their lives, why did they take the Restriction Tokens that controlled a sliver of their souls? None of it makes any sense."
The middle-aged demonic cultivator spoke while pondering, his mind filled with numerous doubts he couldn't seem to resolve.
The short-haired demonic cultivator thought for a moment. "Could it be that the true identity of this rescued 'Clear Spirit Sect' disciple is very special?"
"I also questioned the five who didn't escape. They said this cultivator, named Yu Yuanjun, came from a branch family of their sect."
"This is a common situation among sects throughout the Desolate Moon Continent. Many cultivators, after achieving some minor success, will often leave their sect and return to their families to establish their own lineage, becoming a branch family of the sect."
"Not only can they gradually develop into a cultivation family, but they can also provide the sect with more talent and strength," the middle-ag ed demonic cultivator said, shaking his head and refuting the short-haired cultivator's idea.
Just as the short-haired demonic cultivator was about to speak again, his expression suddenly changed. At the same time, the middle-aged Demon Lord Wu and the other Demon Lord simultaneously looked up at the night sky.
In the next moment, an invisible pressure descended from the horizon. Instantly, the entire central square of Zhouyang Town felt the oppressive force, and a dead silence fell.
Just as everyone looked towards the southern horizon, several long streaks of light roared through the night, arriving above the square in the blink of an eye.
The streaks of light halted above the square. As the radiance faded, several black figures were revealed, hovering in the air as still as mountains.
The leader was draped in a purple cloak, his thick, dark arms bare. He wore tight-fitting black armor and a pair of red-and-black battle boots.
He had a square, imposing face and appeared to be in his fifties. He also had short hair, but unlike the short-haired demonic cultivator in the square below, his was a shock of silver, which was particularly eye-catching against his dark skin and the night sky.
His aura was as vast as the sea and as deep as an abyss, as if boundless dark power was constantly converging upon him. He was, shockingly, a Nascent Soul-level Demonic General. Behind him stood four Demon Lords with iron-like expressions, not uttering a word.
"We pay our respects to Lord Tie Dong!"
In the square below, the three Demon Lords, led by the middle-aged Wu, were the first to speak, and the others quickly followed suit.
"Hmph. I am in charge of the deployment here. The other locations will be commanded by other Demonic General Lords. The objective is to conquer Windy Cool Mountain. Move out!"
The silver-haired Demonic General Tie Dong's words were unexpectedly brief. Upon his arrival, he merely stated the destination without even taking a headcount before immediately announcing the expedition.
More than half of the people in the square were South Sea cultivators, and they were somewhat bewildered. 'We're attacking Windy Cool Mountain already?'
But seeing the demonic cultivators in the square immediately bow in response without a hint of surprise, as if they were long accustomed to such curt, single-sentence orders, they held their tongues.
This was the style of the Demon Clan. In the Demon Realm, the hierarchy was several times stricter than that of human cultivators. The higher-ups would only assign major strategic objectives. Matters like counting personnel and battle preparations were flawlessly handled by the grassroots commanders, whether in a small squad or a large demonic army. Only things like formulating plans were the business of high-level cultivators. Everything was orderly. When it was time for battle, all a demonic cultivator had to do was obey, attack, and slaughter!
The three Demon Lords, including the middle-aged Wu, immediately issued orders to the demonic cultivators in the square.
"Form up by squad according to yesterday's reporting areas. Move out!" With that, the three of them also flew up from the square, heading towards the silver-haired Demonic General Tie Dong.
After receiving their orders, the demonic cultivators below simply whispered a few words to their squad members before they, too, took to the air one by one.
These leading demonic cultivators had maintained a certain distance from each other before. The remaining South Sea cultivators and foreign cultivators followed with puzzled expressions. Their flying figures perfectly filled the gaps between the leaders. Without any command, a neat formation was assembled in moments.
When they saw how easily such an orderly battle formation could be created just by following their squad leaders, both the South Sea cultivators and the foreign cultivators revealed looks of shock. They knew that this seemingly simple formation was in fact deeply ingrained in the bloodline of the Demon Clan. Every one of them knew their responsibilities and their position in the ranks. Even two unfamiliar demonic cultivators could quickly determine what they needed to do.
'This is the result of long-term slaughter and constant warfare. The Demon Clan… they must have been a nation of soldiers for a long time!'
Many South Sea cultivators thought with sorrow. Under the control of the soul-binding restrictions, they knew this battle meant certain death. Once their hands were stained with the blood of the Desolate Moon Continent's cultivators, there would be no turning back. Moreover, when the demonic cultivators finally activated the Restriction Tokens, they would lose their minds, becoming puppets of mindless slaughter.
'It's no wonder the Demon Clan finds it so easy to invade realm after realm. War is deeply etched into their heritage and their blood, like puppets following a set of rules, not allowing themselves the slightest error.'
'Even among the cultivators of my own sect, with so many senior and junior brothers, without someone to organize us, we would definitely descend into chaos.' The South Sea cultivators were speechless, their hearts choked with grief.
"Lord Tie Dong, Teng Wuji has not yet returned from pursuing the enemy!" As soon as he ascended, the middle-aged Demon Lord reported respectfully in a low voice.
Tie Dong remained expressionless, his gaze fixed on the cultivators flying up one by one.
"He is likely dead. The enemy dispatched two Nascent Souls to confront our side, and also sent eight Golden Cores to conduct raids. In the end, a cultivator whose magic power was close to the Nascent Soul realm stealthily approached over a great distance and, in the shortest possible time, heavily wounded or killed Teng Wuji."
"Then, this person led the squad that harassed Zhouyang Town and returned. This is also why we must set out immediately."
"The enemy should have received the news by now, but we must still give them as little time to prepare as possible."
The silver-haired Tie Dong's voice was low. After these few simple sentences, he still didn't turn his head. His gaze pierced through the crowd in the air, looking towards the north in the night sky, as if traversing the profound darkness.
As soon as he spoke, the other two Demon Lords who had flown up with the middle-aged Wu trembled violently. They felt as if they could no longer hear the rest of Tie Dong's words clearly.
The middle-aged demonic cultivator blurted out, "Brother Teng is dead? How did we not sense any large-scale fluctuations from a fight? This, this…"
Although the three of them had long felt that something was amiss, they had subconsciously believed that Teng Wuji might have discovered something about the enemy's situation and had temporarily concealed his aura, which was why they hadn't detected him. Because they had indeed not sensed any major fluctuations of combat Spirit Power. Logically, let alone killing Teng Wuji, at their level, even heavily injuring an opponent would cause a heaven-shaking commotion.
Furthermore, Teng Wuji was the one with the most profound magic power among the four of them. For him to be killed so silently, the person who came should not have been the "Golden Core cultivator" Lord Tie Dong mentioned. Even if the attacker was a cultivator infinitely close to the Nascent Soul realm, if Teng Wuji fought for his life, even a Pseudo-Nascent Soul master wouldn't be able to do anything to him in a short amount of time.
"Hmph!"
This time, Tie Dong did not answer. He had already said that Teng Wuji had likely fallen, but to be captured alive was an even greater humiliation for the Demon Clan. He had no desire to explain again. With a heavy, cold snort, Tie Dong withdrew his gaze from the distant darkness, his eyes sweeping over the three of them with what seemed like casual indifference, shooting out two bone-chillingly cold glints.
He was also furious. After the enemy sent out two Nascent Souls to entangle his side, they still dared to dispatch such a high-level cultivator to sneak all the way over here. A single misstep could have cost the enemy a top-tier Golden Core cultivator.
Tie Dong's gaze was like a knife at their backs, making it difficult for the three Demon Lords to breathe. They felt as if their souls would be ripped from their bodies in the next moment. In front of a Demonic General, their past pride was worthless, like three pitiful ants.
Sweat instantly beaded on the foreheads of the three Demon Lords. They desperately mobilized all their Spirit Power to suppress the urge of their Divine Souls to flee their bodies. Their bodies trembled involuntarily, and their hearts were filled with extreme fear. They had been so shocked by Teng Wuji's demise that they had actually questioned the words of a Demonic General.
If this were the Demon Realm, and the three of them were not his trusted aides, Tie Dong might have killed them with a wave of his hand.
Fortunately, Tie Dong withdrew his gaze after a single glance. The three Demon Lords felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted, but their minds were still racing.
'Are there really such heaven-defying cultivators of the same rank on the Desolate Moon Continent? Back when we encountered those Late-stage Golden Core cultivators in the South Sea, although a few were tricky, weren't they all eventually slain?'
But at this moment, they dared not ask any further questions.
Tie Dong looked at the black, oppressive formations of troops that had already assembled in the air before him and uttered two cold words, "Move out!"
With that, Tie Dong's face was filled with a murderous aura. Allowing them no further delay, he clasped his hands behind his back, his tall and straight body already soaring into the sky.
The middle-aged demonic cultivator and the other two, along with the several demonic cultivators who had been standing behind Tie Dong, hurriedly flew up to follow. Behind them was a sky-blotting mass of silent cultivators, the only sound being the continuous flapping of their clothes in the wind.
"Briefly tell me what you found out about that squad. Don't tell me you didn't investigate at all and came up with no intelligence whatsoever."
Tie Dong suddenly spoke while in flight, but he did not turn his head. His silver hair in the dark night was like a cluster of golden needles, stinging people's eyes.